Another Mistake

Here is a mistake I made and a lesson learned:

When we first started having small groups at our church, Joe (not his real name), took over one of the groups. He was a great guy, committed to the cause, great with people, willing to listen and loved by most everyone.

At one of our leader's meetings, I pointed out a mistake that he had made. Whatever he had done, it really wasn't that big of a deal, it was something that anyone might do. So, I reasoned, all the leaders would benefit from hearing about what had happened and not do it themselves. Unfortunately, I hadn't checked with him about this before I brought it up.

Soon after that, Joe decided that he didn't want to lead a group anymore. He told me that his busy life and such things were interfering with his leading the group. But, I am quite certain that he was embarrassed and deflated by my "public" revelation of his mis-steps.

We missed out on having a great guy lead some of our people and he missed out on the great things that come your way from having a role like this all because I had yet learned the following lesson.

The lesson I learned:

Point out people's mistakes in private ..... if you want to say something about someone in public, make it praise and compliments.